Saturday, 9 March 2013

Antioxidants Naturally Found in Foods

Antioxidants Naturally Found in FoodsBy: http://skybluecross.com
Most of us are fond of at least one product that has the effect of a stimulant
and that eventually becomes an addiction. These products include exercise
stimulant drinks (they come in cans and look like cola), fizzy aerated drinks,
tobacco, betel nut, betel leaf, strong coffee, strong tea, mahuang (an
ephedrine-like compound consumed in china), and alcohol.

Before I tell you why we shouldn’t consume these products, I’d like to deal with
the question of why we do consume them in the first place.

There’s no one who doesn’t know that products like these, consumed in excess,
can severely harm our bodies. Yet, we still find them hard to resist. The need
to eat stimulant food is a simple human weakness that has existed for ages:
humans (and many animals) have always indulged in foods that give a sort of
emotional high. In clinical terms, this means rapid heart beat, a little
sweating, dilation or constriction of the pupils of the eye, a warm flush on the
face, and a sense of greater sensitivity, concentration and perception.

These sensations of ‘high’ die down within a few hours, and we are left feeling
listless and low. This leads to a craving for that food again, to experience the
high one more time. And there we are going round and round in a vicious circle.

The physiology of addictions is as follows:

When you eat an addictive food, it stimulates the hormone like substances found
at the end of your nerves, which triggers an avalanche of similar stimulatory
substances and you experiences a high. As the substances near the nerves are
depleted, you get into the low phase, which leads you to crave that food again.
This yo-yo phase of nerve stimulation and depletion leads to a pattern of
addiction.

Consuming addictive foods is one of the oldest unhealthy food practices and,
despite a revolution in health consciousness; it shows no signs of dying out.

Tobacco: Erosion of gum and tongue can lead to cancer of the buccal mucosa.

Betel nut: Leads to the discoloration of teeth, erosion of the lining of the
mouth, and cancer of the mouth and upper tract. It also leads to heart problems
among people who already have a weak heart.

Ma huang: It contains ephedrine and leads to heart problems.

Aerated drinks: High doses of caffeine.

Caffeine and xanthine: Found in tea, coffee. These become harmful only in very
high doses; don’t consume more than five cups a day.

Mixed drug reactions: People who consume medications for the heart, hypertension
and asthma have to be very careful about the interactions of the drugs with
stimulant foods, as mixing the two can be fatal. After years of experience, all
doctors know how difficult it is to break the food addictions of their patients.
So like them, I can only advise a good compromise. If you can’t break the
addiction, then at least you should practice moderation.